Camera touchpad

ABSTRACT

A system and method is disclosed for enabling user friendly interaction with a camera system. Specifically, the inventive system and method has several aspects to improve the interaction with a camera system, including voice recognition, gaze tracking, touch sensitive inputs and others. The voice recognition unit is operable for, among other things, receiving multiple different voice commands, recognizing the vocal commands, associating the different voice commands to one camera command and controlling at least some aspect of the digital camera operation in response to these voice commands. The gaze tracking unit is operable for, among other things, determining the location on the viewfinder image that the user is gazing upon. One aspect of the touch sensitive inputs provides that the touch sensitive pad is mouse-like and is operable for, among other things, receiving user touch inputs to control at least some aspect of the camera operation. Another aspect of the disclosed invention provides for gesture recognition to be used to interface with and control the camera system.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of pending application Ser. No.16/663,742, filed Oct. 25, 2019, which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 14/614,515, filed Feb. 5, 2015 (abandoned), which claims thebenefit of application Ser. No. 14/539,687 (now issued U.S. Pat. No.9,485,403), filed Nov. 12, 2014, which claims the benefit of applicationSer. No. 14/495,976 (now issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,91 7,982), filed Sep.25, 2014, which claims the benefit of application Ser. No. 14/453,511(now issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,923,692), filed Aug. 6, 2014, which claimsthe benefit of application Ser. No. 14/315,544 (now issued U.S. Pat. No.8,897,634), filed Jun. 26, 2014, which claims the benefit of applicationSer. No. 14/203,129 (now issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,818,182), filed Mar. 10,2014, which claims the benefit of application Ser. No. 13/717,681 (nowissued U.S. Pat. No. 8,831,418), filed Dec. 17, 2012, which claims thebenefit of application Ser. No. 13/087,650 (now issued U.S. Pat. No.8,467,672), filed Apr. 15, 2011, which claims the benefit of applicationSer. No. 12/710,066 (now issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,933,508), filed Feb. 22,2010, which claims the benefit of application Ser. No. 11/163,391 (nowissued U.S. Pat. No. 7,697,827), filed Oct. 17, 2005, all of which areherein incorporated by reference. Reference is also made to relatedapplication Ser. No. 14/199,855 (now issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,824,879),filed Mar. 6, 2014, related application Ser. No. 14/950,338 (now issuedU.S. Pat. No. 10,257,401), filed Nov. 24, 2015, related application Ser.No. 14/950,370 (now issued U.S. Pat. No. 10,063,761), filed Nov. 24,2015, and related application Ser. No. 15/188,736 (now issued U.S. Pat.No. 9,936,116) filed Jun. 21, 2016.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Digitally-based and film-based cameras abound and are extremely flexibleand convenient. One use for a camera is in the taking of self portraits.Typically, the user frames the shot and places the camera in a modewhereby when the shutter button is depressed; the camera waits apredetermined time so that the user may incorporate himself back intothe shot before the camera actually takes the picture. This iscumbersome and leads to nontrivial problems. Sometimes the predetermineddelay time is not long enough. Other times, it may be too long. Forparticipates who are in place and ready to have their picture taken,especially children, waiting with a smile on their face for the pictureto be snapped by the camera can seem endless even if it is just a fewseconds long. Additionally, many who might like to be included into ashot find themselves not able to be because they have to take thepicture and it is simply too much trouble to set up for ashutter-delayed photograph.

Voice recognition techniques are well known in the art and have beenapplied to cameras, see for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,951,079, 6,021,278and 6,101,338 which are herein incorporated by reference. It iscurrently possible to have fairly large vocabularies of uttered wordsrecognized by electronic device. Speech recognition devices can be of atype whereby they are trained to recognize a specific person'svocalizations, so called speaker dependent recognition, or can be of atype which recognizes spoken words without regard to who speaks them, socalled speaker independent recognition. Prior art voice operated camerashave several defects remedied or improved upon by various aspects of thepresent invention more fully disclosed below. One such problem is thatin self portrait mode, the camera may snap the picture while the user isuttering the command. Another defect is that the microphone coupled tothe voice recognition unit is usually mounted on the back of the camera.This placement is non-optimal when the user is in front of the camera aswhen taking a self portrait. Still another problem with prior art voiceactivated cameras is that they associate one vocalization or utteranceto one camera operation. Thus, the user must remember which command wordis to be spoken for which camera operation. This is overly constraining,unnatural, and significantly reduces the utility of adding voicerecognition to the camera.

One prior art implementation of voice recognition allows for menu drivenprompts to help guide the user through the task of remembering whichcommand to speak for which camera function. This method however requiresthat the user be looking at the camera's dedicated LCD display for themenu. One aspect of the present invention provides for the menus to bedisplayed in the electronic view finder of the camera and be manipulatedwith both voice and gaze. Another aspect of the present inventionincorporates touchpad technology which is typically used in laptopcomputers, such technology being well know in the art, as the camerainput device for at least some functions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A self-contained camera system, according to various aspects of thepresent invention, includes voice recognition wherein multiple differentvocalizations can be recognized and wherein some such recognizedvocalizations can be associated with the same camera command. Anotheraspect of the invention provides for multiple microphones disposed on orin the camera system body and be operable so that the user can beanywhere around the camera system and be heard by the camera systemequally well. According to other aspects of the present invention, thecamera system viewfinder includes gaze tracking ability and in exemplarypreferred embodiments, gaze tracking is used alone or in combinationwith other aspects of the invention to, for example, manipulate menus,improve picture taking speed, or improve the auto focus capability ofthe camera. Other aspects of the present invention, such as the additionof touchpad technology and gesture recognition provide for a improvedand more natural user interface to the camera system.

Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide an improvedself-portrait mode for a camera system. It is further an object of theinvention to provide an improved user interface for a camera system. Itis yet a further object of the invention to make a camera system moreuser friendly with a more natural and intuitive user interface. It isstill a further object of the invention to broaden the capabilities ofthe camera system. It is further an object of the invention to moreeasily allow a user to compose a shot to be taken by the camera system.It is still further an object of the invention to improve image qualityof pictures taken by the camera system. It is yet another object of theinvention to improve the speed of picture taking by the camera system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is an exemplary perspective view of the rear (back) of thecamera system according to various aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is an exemplary perspective view of the front of the camerasystem according to various aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional representation of automatic microphone selectioncircuitry that may be uses in various aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary functional block diagram of an inventivecamera system implementing various aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of a wink detector according tovarious aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 5A shows an exemplary touchpad overlay with cutouts according tovarious aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 5B shows an exemplary touchpad overlay with cutouts according tovarious aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 5C shows an exemplary touchpad overlay with cutouts according tovarious aspects of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

One aspect of the present invention solves several of the problems ofthe prior art voice recognition cameras in that this aspect provides formore than one microphone to be the source to the recognition unit. Withreference to FIG. 1 , this aspect of the present invention provides forat least two microphones to be used, one microphone, 10 b, placed on theback of the camera and one microphone, 10 a, placed on the front, eitherof which can receive voice commands. In a first preferred embodiment ofthis aspect of the invention, a detection device determines whichmicrophone is to be used as the input to the recognition unit based uponthe strength of the voice signal or sound level received by each of themicrophones. In another preferred embodiment, the outputs of themicrophones are combined as the input to the voice recognition unit. Instill another embodiment, the user can select which microphone is usedas the input to the voice recognition unit, for example, by a switch orby selection through a camera menu.

Automatic microphone selection is preferred and with reference to FIG. 2, microphones 10 a and 10 b are each amplified by amplifiers 20 and 22respectively. Diode 24, capacitor 28 and resister 32 form a simpleenergy detector and filter for microphone 10 a. The output of thisdetector/filter is applied to one side of a comparator, 36. Similarly,diode 26, capacitor 30, and resister 34 form the other energy detectorassociated with microphone 10 b. The output of this filter/detectorcombination is also applied to comparator 36. Thus, the output of thiscomparator selects which amplified microphone output is passed to thevoice recognition unit through multiplexer 38 based on which amplifiedmicrophone output contains the greatest energy.

In yet another novel embodiment of this aspect of the invention, themultiple microphones are preferably associated with multiple voicerecognition units or, alternatively, with different voice recognitionalgorithms well know in the art. The outputs of these multiple voicerecognition units or different voice recognition algorithms are thencoupled to the camera controller (FIG. 3 element 40). The cameracontroller preferably selects one of these outputs as being the cameracontroller's voice recognition input. Alternatively, the cameracontroller accepts the outputs of all the voice recognition units oralgorithms and preferably uses a voting scheme to determine the mostlikely recognized command. This would obviously improve recognitionrates and this aspect of the invention is contemplated to have utilitybeyond camera systems including, by way of example and not limitation,consumer computer devices such as PCs and laptops; portable electronicdevices such as cell phones, PDAs, IPODs, etc.; entertainment devicessuch as TVs, video recorders, etc; and other areas.

To illustrate this embodiment using the example of the camera systemhaving microphones on its frontside and backside given above, each ofthese microphones is coupled to a voice recognition unit. When anutterance is received, each voice recognition unit recognizes theutterance. The camera controller then selects which voice recognitionunit's recognition to accept. This is preferably based on the energyreceived by each microphone using circuitry similar to FIG. 2Alternatively, the selection of which voice recognition unit to usewould be a static selection. Additionally, both recognizers' recognitionwould be considered by the camera controller with conflicting resultsresolved by voting or using ancillary information (such as microphoneenergy content).

An embodiment using multiple algorithms preferably has one voicerecognition algorithm associated with the frontside microphone and, adifferent voice recognition algorithm associated with the backsidemicrophone. Preferably, the voice recognition algorithm associated withthe frontside microphone is adapted to recognize vocalizations utteredfrom afar (owing to this microphone probably being used inself-portraits), while the voice recognition algorithm associated withthe backside microphone is optimal for closely uttered vocalizations.Selection of which algorithm is to be used as the camera controllerinput is preferably as above. Alternatively, as above, the selectionwould be by static selection or both applied to the camera controllerand a voting scheme used to resolve discrepancies. While the aboveexample contemplates using different voice recognition algorithms, thereis no reason this must be so. The same algorithms could also be used inwhich case this example functions the same as multiple voice recognitionunits.

It is further contemplated in another aspect of the invention that thevoice recognition subsystem be used in conjunction with the photographstoring hardware and software. In a preferred use of this aspect of theinvention, the user utters names to be assigned to the photographsduring storage and, later, utter then again for recall of the storedimage. Thus, according to this aspect of the present invention, a storedphotograph can be recalled for display simply by uttering the associatedname of the photograph. The name association is preferably by directassociation, that is, the name stored with the picture. In a secondpreferred embodiment, the photograph storage media contains a secondaryfile managed by the camera system and which associates the given (i.e.,uttered) name with the default file name assigned by the camera system'sstorage hardware and/or software to the photograph when the photographis stored on the storage media. According to the second embodiment, whena photograph is to be vocally recalled for viewing, the camera systemfirst recognizes the utterance (in this case, the name) which will beused to identify the picture to be recalled. The camera system thenscans the association file for the name which was uttered andrecognized. Next, the camera system determines the default name whichwas given to the photograph during storage and associated with theuser-given name (which was uttered and recognized) in the associationfile. The camera system then recalls and displays the photograph by thisassociated default name.

In another preferred embodiment, the voice recognition subsystem of theimproved camera system recognizes at least some vocalized letters of thealphabet and/or numbers so that the user may assign names to picturessimply by spelling the name by vocalizing letters and/or numbers.Another aspect of the invention provides that stored photographs becategorized on the storage media through use of voice-recognizedutterances being used to reference and/or create categories labels andthat, additionally, the recognizer subsystem preferably recognize keywords for manipulating the stored pictures. For instance, according tothis aspect of the invention, the inventive camera system wouldrecognize the word “move” to mean that a picture is to be moved to orfrom a specific category. More specifically, “move, Christmas” wouldindicate that the currently referenced photograph is to be moved to theChristmas folder. An alternative example is “John move new year's”indicating that the picture named john (either directly named or byassociation, depending on embodiment) be moved to the folder named “NewYear's”. It is further contemplated that the folder names may be usedfor picture delineation as well. For instance, the picture “John” in theChristmas folder is not the same as the picture “John” in the Birthdayfolder and the former may be referenced by “Christmas, John” while thelatter is referenced by “Birthday, John”.

Another aspect of the present invention provides that the voicerecognition camera system be capable of associating more than one vocalutterance or sound with a single command. The different utterances arecontemplated to be different words, sounds or the same word underdemonstrably different conditions. As an example, the voice recognitioncamera system of this aspect of the present invention allows theinventive camera system to understand, for example, any of “shoot”,“snap”, “cheese”, and a whistle to indicate to the camera system that apicture is to be taken. In another example, perhaps the phrase and word“watch the birdie” and “click” instruct the camera to take the picture.It is further envisioned that the user select command words from apredetermined list of the camera command words and that he then selectwhich words correspond to which command. It is alternatively envisionedthat the association of multiple recognizable words to camera commandsmay also be predetermined or preassigned. In another alternateembodiment, the inventive camera system allows the user to teach thecamera system which words to recognize and also inform the camera systemas to which recognized words to associate with which camera commands.There are obviously other embodiments for associating recognizedvocalizations to camera commands and the foregoing embodiments aresimply preferred examples.

In another embodiment of this aspect of the present invention, the userhas his uttered commands recognized under demonstrably differentconditions and recognized as being different utterances. For instance,according to this aspect of the invention, the voice operated camerasystem operates so that it understand commands vocalized close to thecamera (as if the user is taking the picture in traditional fashion withthe camera back to his face) and significantly farther away (as if theuser is taking a self portrait picture and is part of the shot and thushas to vocalize loudly to the front of the camera.) For thisillustration, in a preferred embodiment the user teaches the words tothe camera under the different conditions anticipated. For example, theuser would teach the camera system by speaking the word “snap” close tothe camera and inform the camera that this is a picture taking commandand would then stand far from the camera and say “snap”, thus teachinganother utterance, and instruct the camera that this is also a picturetaking command. These two different utterances of the same word underdifferent conditions would be stored and recognized as differentutterances. This aspect of the invention contemplates that the wordsvocalized and/or taught need not be the same word and, as illustratedabove, different words would also be considered different utterances aswell.

Since voice recognition is not always 100 percent accurate, anotheraspect of the present invention contemplates that the camera system or aremote device, or both, preferably provide an indication that a voicecommand was or was not understood. Thus, using the self portrait exampleabove, if the user vocalizes the command to take a picture but thecamera system does not properly recognize the vocalization as beingsomething it understands, the camera system would beep, or light an LED,etc. to indicate it's misrecognition. Because of the relatively smallnumber of anticipated camera commands and allowing for multiplevocalizations to command the same action, it is expected that therecognition rates will be quite high and fairly tolerant of extraneousnoise without necessarily resorting to the use of a highly directionalor closely coupled (to the user's mouth) microphone though the use ofsuch devices is within the scope of the invention.

It is anticipated that the user of the inventive camera system may betoo far away from the camera system for the camera system to recognizeand understand the user's vocalizations. Thus, another aspect of theinvention provides that the camera is equipped with a small laser sensor(FIG. 1 element 18) or other optically sensitive device such that when alight of a given frequency or intensity or having a given pulse sequenceencoded within it is sensed by the camera system equipped with theoptically sensitive device, the camera system immediately, or shortlythereafter (to give the user time to put the light emitting device downor otherwise hide it, for example) takes a picture. The light emittingdevice is preferably a laser pointer or similar, stored within thecamera housing when not needed so as to not be lost when not in use.Additionally, the light emitting device's power source would preferablybe recharged by the camera system's power source when so stored. Inanother embodiment, it is also contemplated that the light emittingdevice may be housed in a remotely coupled display which is disclosedbelow. The light emitting device preferably includes further electronicsto regulate the emitted light intensity or to encode a predeterminedpulse sequence (on-off pulses for example) or otherwise onto the emittedlight, all of which techniques are well known in the art, which thecamera system of this aspect of the present invention would receive andrecognize by methods well known in the art.

Another aspect of the present invention provides for there being apredetermined delay introduced between recognizing a voice command andthe camera actually implementing the command. This aspect of theinvention allows time, for example, for the user to close his mouth orfor others in a self-portrait shot to settle down quickly before thepicture is actually taken. In a first preferred embodiment of thisaspect of the invention, the delay is implemented unconditionally for atleast the picture taking command. In a second preferred embodiment ofthis aspect of the invention, the delay introduced is dependent uponfrom where the command came relative to the camera system. For instance,if the camera system recognized the command as coming from the frontsidemicrophone, delay is used, but if the command comes from the backsidemicrophone, then no delay is implemented. The simple energy detectioncircuitry of FIG. 2 , described above is easily adapted for thisfunction. In an alternative embodiment, implementation of the delay isdependent upon the location of the microphone due to the orientation ofthe flip-up or swivel LCD display when the microphone is attached to theLCD display (FIG. 1 , element 12 c). For example, if the microphone inthe display sub-housing is oriented forward relative to the camera bodythen delay is implemented, if the microphone is not oriented forwardthen no delay is introduced. Determining the orientation of thismicrophone relative to the camera body is known in the art and wouldtypically be done with switches or other sensor devices. Anotherpreferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention implements thedelay for only certain commands, such as the command to take a picture.In yet another preferred embodiment, whether the delay is implemented atall is selectable by the user.

Another aspect of the present invention provides that the camera LCDdisplay (FIG. 1 , element 14) employs touch sensitive technology. Thistechnology is well known in the computer art and can be any ofresistive, capacitive, RF, etc touch technology. This aspect of thepresent invention allows the user to interact with menus, features andfunctions displayed on the LCD display directly rather than throughancillary buttons or cursor control. For those embodiments of touchtechnology requiring use of a stylus, it is further contemplated thatthe camera body house the stylus for easy access by the user.

According to another aspect of the present invention, it is envisionedthat the current dedicated LCD display (FIG. 1 , element 14)incorporated on a digital camera be made to be removable and beextendable from the camera by cable, wireless, optical, etc.interconnection with the camera. In one embodiment, this remote LCDwould be wire-coupled to receive display information from the digitalcamera through a pluggable port. In another embodiment, the remote LCDwould be wirelessly coupled to the digital camera through any of severaltechnologies well understood in the art including, by way of exampleonly, Bluetooth, WIFI (802.11 a/b/g/n), wireless USB, FM, optical, etc.In a another embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the remotelycoupled display would serve the dual purpose of being a remote inputterminal to the camera system in addition to being a dedicated displayfor the camera system. Preferably, as mentioned earlier, the display istouch sensitive using any of the touch sensitive technology wellunderstood in the art such as resistive, capacitive, RF, etc., methodsmentioned above. Touch commands input by the user would be coupled backto the camera system as needed. It is also contemplated that the remotedisplay house the stylus if one is required.

In another preferred embodiment, the remotely coupled display hasbuttons on it to control the camera system. In another embodiment, theremotely coupled display contains the microphone for receiving the voicecommands of the user, digitizing the received voice, analyzing andrecognizing the vocalization locally and sending a command to the camerasystem. In another preferred embodiment, the remotely coupled displaycontaining the microphone simply digitizes the vocalization received bythe microphone and transmits the digitized vocalization to the camerasystem for recognition of the vocalization by the camera system itself.In all embodiments of the wireless remote display, it is preferred thatthe display contain its own power source, separate from the power sourceof the camera. It is also contemplated that the display's separate powersource may be coupled to the camera's power source when the display is‘docked’ to the camera so that both may share power sources or so thatthe camera's power source may recharge the display's power source.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the electronicview finder (EVF) typically used on modern digital cameras includes agaze tracking capability which is well known in the art, see for exampleU.S. Pat. No. 6,758,563 to Levola which is herein incorporated byreference. In this aspect of the present invention, menus typically usedfor user interface to the camera are electronically superimposed in theimage in the EVF. The gaze tracker subsystem is operable for determiningthe area or approximate location of the viewfinder image at which theuser is gazing. Thus, by the user looking at different areas of the EVFimage, the gaze tracker subsystem informs the camera system so that amouse-like pointer or cursor is moved by the camera system to the areaof the EVF image indicated by the gaze tracking device to be the areathe user is viewing. Preferably, the user then speaks a command toindicate his selection of the item pointed to by the pointer image.Alternatively, the user may indicate through other methods that this ishis selection, such as staring at a position in the image for a minimumpredetermined time or pressing a button, etc. As an example, the EVFdisplays icons for flash, shutter speed, camera mode, etc (alone orsuperimposed on the normal viewfinder image.) By gazing at an icon, asmall compositely rendered arrow, cursor, etc., in the EVF image iscaused by the gaze tracker subsystem to move to point to the icon atwhich the user is determined to be gazing by the gaze trackingsubsystem, for instance, the camera mode icon as an example here.Preferably, the user then utters a command which is recognized by thecamera system as indicating his desire to select that icon, for example,“yes” or “open”.

Alternatively, the icon is selected by the user gazing at the icon forsome predetermined amount of time. When the icon is selected by whatevermethod, the EVF image shows a drop down menu of available camera modes,for example, portrait, landscape, fireworks, etc. The user, preferably,then utters the proper command word from the list or he may optionallygaze down the list at the mode he desires whereupon the gaze trackersubsystem directs that the pointer or cursor in the EVF image moves tothe word and, preferably highlighting it, indicates that this is whatthe camera system thinks the user want to do. The user, preferably, thenutters a command indicating his acceptance or rejection of that mode inthis example, such as ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If the command uttered indicatesacceptance, the camera system implements the command, if the commandindicates rejection of the selected command, the camera systempreferably moves the pointer to a neighboring command. To leave a menu,the user may utter ‘end’ to return to the menu above or ‘home’ toindicate the home menu. Preferably, the user can also manipulate thepointer position by uttering commands such as “up”, “down”, “left” and“right” to indicate relative cursor movement. In this way, the userinteracts with the camera in the most natural of ways, through sight andsound cooperatively. While the above example used the preferredcombination of gaze and voice recognition, it is contemplated that gazetracking be combined with other input methods such as pushing buttons(like a mouse click) or touch input disclosed below, or gesturerecognition disclosed below, etc. as examples.

Another application of this aspect of the invention uses gaze trackingto assist the auto focus (AF) capability of the prior art camera. AFgenerally has too modes, one mode uses the entire image, centerweighted, to determine focus, another mode allows different areas of theimage to have greater weight in determining focus. In the second mode,the user typically pre-selects the area of the framed image that hewishes to be over-weighted by the AF capability. This is cumbersome inthat the user must predict where he wants the weighting to be ahead oftime, thus, this embodiment of this aspect of the invention providesthat the gaze tracker subsystem inform the AF capability of the camerasystem as to the location of the image that the user is gazing and thatthe AF capability use this information to weight this area of the imagewhen determining focus. It is contemplated that the AF system may onlyprovide for discrete areas of the image to be so weighted and in thiscase, preferably, the AF capability selects the discrete area of theimage closest to that being gazed upon.

Another embodiment of this aspect of the invention uses the gaze trackerto enable the flash of the camera system. Flash is common used to “fill”dimly lit photographic scenes but sometimes this is not warranted. Othertimes, it is desired to have “fill” flash because the area of the scenedesired is dark but the rest of the scene is quite bright (taking apicture in shade for example) and the camera does not automaticallyprovide “fill” flash because the overall image is bright enough.Typically, the amount of “fill” flash the camera will give is determinedby the camera measuring the brightness of the scene. The inventivecamera system with gaze tracking is used to enhance the prior art methodof determining the desire and amount of “fill” flash in that theinventive camera system gives more weight, in determining the scenebrightness, to the area of the scene indicated by the gaze tracker asbeing gazed upon.

Another aspect of the present invention adds touchpad technology to theprior art camera system. Use of the word ‘touchpad’ throughout thisdisclosure should be construed to mean either the touchpad itself or thetouchpad with any or all of a controller, software, associated touchpadelectronics, etc. This touchpad technology is similar to the touchpadmouse pad used on laptop computers which is also well understood in thecomputer art. In a first preferred embodiment, the EVF (or LCD display)displays the menus as above and the user moves the cursor or mousepointer around this image by use of his finger on the touchpad. Thisoperation is virtually identical to that of the mouse in laptopcomputers and is well understood in the art. Preferably, the touch padis mounted on the top of the camera at the location typically used forthe shutter button (FIG. 1 element 12 a). It is also preferred that thetouchpad software implement ‘tapping’ recognition, also well known inthe art, so that the user may operate the shutter button, make aselection, etc. simply by tapping the touchpad with his index finger,much the same way modern laptop driver software recognizes tapping ofthe touchpad as a click of the mouse button. It is also currentlypreferred that tapping recognition is used to make selections on themenus shown in the EVF, LCD display, or otherwise.

Another application of this aspect of the invention uses the touchpad toinform the camera system to zoom the lens simply by the user strokinghis finger from front to back (for example, to zoom) or back to frontover the touchpad (for example, to wide angle). For this aspect of thepresent invention, a preferred embodiment has the touchpad on the barrelof the lens. This is a most natural way to control zoom since themovement of the finger is a gesture with the user ‘pulling’ the objectto be photographed closer (front to back stroke means zooming) or‘pushing’ the object to be photographed away (back to front stroke meanswide angle). According to another aspect of the invention, the touchpadreplaces the shutter button functionality and the preferable locationfor this embodiment is top mounted. Preferably, the touchpad is tappedonce to focus the camera and/or lock the AF and tapped a second time totrip the shutter. Alternatively, the inventive camera system simplysenses the person's touch of the touchpad, auto focuses the cameraand/or locks the focus or provides continually focusing while theperson's touch is sensed and wherein a tap of the touchpad then tripsthe shutter. Preferably, the camera system enforces a maximum amount oftime that the AF may be locked so that action photographs will not bebadly focused. Automatically locking the AF settings for a maximumpredetermined time after AF activation or continuously focus upon AFactivation is also applicable to the prior art AF button activationmethod described below. While a computer-like touchpad was used toillustrate the above preferred embodiments of this aspect of theinvention, the touch sensitive input device could be comprised of otherstructure, for instance, the aforementioned touch-sensitive LCD display.Also, throughout this disclosure, the word ‘continuous’ (and itsvariants, e.g., continually, etc.) should be construed to meandiscretely continuous in addition to its analogue-world definition.

In a second preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention, thetouchpad is placed on the back of the camera (FIG. 1 element 12 b) andis operable for manipulated the cursor and menus shown on the LCD or EVFdisplay. This provides a much more natural and computer-like interfaceto the camera system. It is also contemplated that either embodiment ofthis aspect of the invention may be coupled with voice recognition sothat the user may interact with the camera by touchpad manipulation incombination with voice commands. Additionally, combined with gazetracking, the user can interact with the camera through touch, voice,and gaze (i.e., sight) to manipulate menus, control the camera system,compose the shot, focus, zoom, enable/disable flash, select macro orpanoramic camera modes, etc.

One of the most annoying properties of the modern digital camera is theshutter delay that occurs when a picture is taken. That is, the delaybetween the user depressing the shutter button and the camera actuallytaking the picture. This delay can be as much as one second on somemodern digital cameras and is typically due to the camera focusing andthen taking the picture after the shutter button is depressed. Onesolution to this implemented by prior art cameras is for the camera tosense when the shutter button is depressed half way, then focus and lockthe AF settings of the camera while the shutter button remains half waydepressed, so that when the user depresses the shutter button the restof the way, the picture is taken almost instantaneously. This solutionis more often than not misused or misunderstood by novice users or thosewho do not use their camera regularly and can also result in blurredaction photographs. Thus, one aspect of the present invention providesthat the viewfinder be coupled to a unit for detecting when the user'seye is viewing through the viewfinder. When viewfinder use is detected,the inventive camera system preferably enables the auto focus system tocontinually focus thus ensuring that the shot is focused when the camerasystem is commanded to take a picture. Preferably, the gaze tracker isused for this determination though this aspect of the invention may beimplemented without gaze tracking.

In a preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention without gazetracking, the viewfinder is equipped with a small light emitting deviceand a light detection device both well known in the art. With referenceto FIG. 4 , the light emitting device, 70, emits a frequency orfrequencies of light some of which is reflected from the eyeball when auser is viewing through the viewfinder, 74. The light detection device,72, is operable for sensing this reflected light and an amplifier (notshown) coupled to device 72, amplifies the signal from the lightdetection device, 72. Obviously, if there is no one viewing through theviewfinder, then there will be no reflected light from the eyeball andthe amplifier output will be near ground, however, when a person peersinto the viewfinder, light will be reflected from his eyeball and theoutput of the amplifier will be significantly larger. Thus, this systemand method provides a way for detecting the use of the viewfinder by theuser without providing gaze tracking ability. It is contemplated thatthis system and method be used with both EVF and optical (i.e.,traditional) viewfinders and that viewport, 76, may be an LCD, opticallens, etc. Shroud 78 typically included on modern viewfinders helps toimprove viewfinder use detection by cutting down on extraneous lightreaching device 72 when the user is viewing through the viewfinder. Itshould be noted that the location of elements 70 and 72 in FIG. 4 isexemplary only and other placements of these elements are within thescope of this aspect of the invention. While the above embodiment ofthis aspect of the invention relied on eyeball reflectivity, in analternate embodiment it is contemplated that the viewfinder use detectcan be made with a light source and light detector juxtaposed whereinthe eye interrupts the light between the two thus indicating viewfinderuse, or that the shroud be fitted with a touch sensor around its outerring that would sense the person's contact with the shroud when theviewfinder is in use. Additionally, it is contemplated that embodimentsof this aspect of the invention may employ filters or other structuresto help minimize false viewfinder use detection due to sunlight or otherlight sources shining on detector 72 when a user is not viewing throughthe viewfinder.

Another aspect of the present invention is to employ a wink-detector aspart of the viewfinder of the camera. Preferably, the gaze tracker ismodified for this purpose. Alternatively, the previously disclosedviewfinder use detector may also be employed. All that is required is toadditionally detect the abrupt change in reflected light from the eyethat would be caused by the eyelid wink. The wink-detector iscontemplated to be used for shutter trip and/or AF activation or lockamong other things. It is contemplated that it be used in theaforementioned application wherein the menus of the camera are displayedon the EVF. In this case, the wink detector preferably acts as a userselection detector device in that the user may select an item pointed toby the gaze tracker pointer or that is otherwise highlighted by the gazetracker simply by winking. It is contemplated that the detected winkwould preferably function in the camera system similarly to a left mouseclick on a computer system when dealing with menus and icons. In thisway, the camera system with wink detector of this aspect of the presentinvention becomes a optical gesture-recognizing camera wherein thegesture is optically received and electronically recognized (gesturerecognition is also contemplated to be used in the touchpad software asdescribed above.)

In an enhancement of this aspect of the invention, the wink detectorsubsystem discriminates between a wink and a blink by preferablydetermining the amount of time taken by the wink or blink. If the amountof time taken for the gesture (blinking or winking) is below a certainthreshold, the gesture is considered a wink and disregarded.

Once a user of a camera has taken pictures, typically he will wish toprint or otherwise develop the pictures for viewing, framing, etc.Another aspect of the present invention provides for simpler photooffloading from the modern digital camera when a set of predeterminedconditions, such as day, time, number of pictures to offload, etc., aremet. The camera system preferably includes the ability for the user toindicate to the camera which pictures to offload so that the cameraoffloads only those pictures that are so indicated by the user. In afirst preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the camerasystem is internally equipped with wireless interface technology by awireless interface to the camera controller for interfacing directly toa photo printer or other photo rendering device. Currently preferred isWIFI (i.e., IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n) with alternatives being Bluetooth, orwireless USB all of which are known in the art. By connecting via WIFI,the inventive camera system can preferably access other devices on theLAN associated with the WIFI for the storing of pictures onto acomputer, network drive, etc. In additional, preferably, devices on thenetwork can access the camera system and the pictures within it directlyand also access camera settings, upload new software or updates to thecamera system, etc. Since one of the big complaints with wirelesstechnology for small devices is the often-obtrusive antenna, it isgreatly preferred for this aspect of the invention that the wirelesshardware including antenna be completely contained within the body ofthe camera system.

In a second preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention, theinventive camera system is equipped with software and hardware coupledto the camera controller allowing independent communication with acomputer network for the primary purpose of communicating its picturesover the internet. Currently preferred is WIFI which is typicallyconnected by LAN, routers, etc. to the internet and which usually allowsWIFI-equipped devices to independently connect to the internet (FIG. 3 ,element 46 c). Alternatively, the invention contemplates the use ofwired LAN, cellular data networks, etc. as the interconnectiontechnology (FIG. 3 , element 46 b) used by the inventive camera system.The inventive camera system is further preferably equipped with amicrobrowser that runs on the inventive camera system's cameracontroller which is preferably a microprocessor. It is contemplated thatsome embodiments may not be required a microbrowser (see enhancementbelow). Design and operation of microbrowser-equipped electronic devicesfor use with the internet is well known in the art and need not bediscussed further. The camera system LCD display serves the purpose ofdisplaying internet webpages when the user is navigating the internet inaddition to its function as the camera display. So equipped, theinventive camera system can now independently upload its pictures to anyof the internet-based photo printing services, such as those provided byWalmart.com, Walgreens.com, Kodak.com, etc., without the need for firststoring the photos to a computer system and then connecting the computersystem to the internet to upload the pictures. Use of these internetservices for printing photos is preferred by many over use of a homephoto printer because of the convenience, ease, availability, qualityand lower per-picture printing costs. Providing the novel combination ofa high photo-quality camera system with direct access to the internetaccording to this aspect of the present invention will further improvethe utility of the camera system and these services.

In an enhancement to the above-disclosed embodiments of this aspect ofthe invention, the inventive camera system is operable for beinginstructed to automatically initiate a connection to the internet, LAN,printer, etc. whenever the predetermined conditions are met and it is inrange of the network connection, (e.g., WIFI, Bluetooth, wireless USB,wired LAN, etc). Once the transmittal of the pictures is complete, theinventive camera system preferably terminates the connection.Additionally, the inventive camera system is preferably operable so thatthe automatic connection is made only at certain times of the day orweekends, etc., so as to confine picture transmission to periods of lownetwork usage or periods of cheaper network access, etc. Also, it iscurrently preferred that the user be queried to allow the automaticconnection though this is obviously not required and the connection canbe made completely autonomously. Thus, in the first embodiment above,the inventive camera system automatically sends its pictures to aprinter or other device on the LAN for printing or for remotely storingthe pictures in the inventive camera system, whenever the inventivecamera system is in range of the LAN network connection and connectioncan be made. In the second embodiment above, the inventive camera systemautomatically connects to the internet preferably via WIFI, althoughcellular network, etc. connection is also contemplated, when it has apredetermined number of pictures and can so connect, and will send thepictures to virtually any internet destination without userintervention. For example, the inventive camera system can be instructedto automatically send the pictures to an email account, internet picturehosting site (FIG. 3 , element 46 d), web-based photo printing site, theuser's internet-connected home computer (when he is on vacation, forinstance), etc. In this way, valuable pictures are immediately backed-upand the need for reliance on expensive camera storage media like flashcards, SD, etc. is greatly reduced.

Many prior art digital cameras can now record images continuously at 30frames per second (i.e., take movies) along with sound. Thus, a priorart camera having an internet connection capability as herein taughtcombined with well known and straightforward editing methods enablesinventive on-camera movie composition. According to this aspect of theinvention, the inventive camera records a series of images, (e.g., amovie) and then the user downloads an MP3 file (i.e., a sound file) froma network (e.g., internet) source to be associated with the movie takenso that when the movie is played, the MP3 file also plays.Alternatively, the MP3 content is embedded in the movie, either as is,or re-encoded. Additionally, the user may download other movie materialor still images via the network connection for insertion in thecamera-recorded movie or for the replacement of certain individualcamera-taken “frames” in the movie.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary functional block diagram of the improved,camera system according to various aspects of the present invention. Thefigure shows one possible exemplary embodiment contemplated and thefigure should not be used to limit the teaching of this disclosure to acertain implementation, embodiment, combination of aspects of thepresent invention, or otherwise.

Another aspect of the present invention provides that prior art featuresof the cell phone (FIG. 3 , element 46 a) are combined so that voicecontrol of the camera in the cell phone can be accomplished. Many moderncell phones incorporating cams also provide voice recognition-drivendialing. Therefore, the functionality necessary for recognizingvocalizations within a cellular communication device exists in the artbut has not been applied to the cell phone camera. This aspect of thepresent invention couples the voice recognition unit of a cell phone tothe camera control unit of the cell phone either directly or via thecell phone controller, thus enabling voice control of the cell phonecamera. Preferably, when recognizing a vocalization, the cell phonecontroller programming would also include the step of determining if therecognized vocalization was for camera control, or for dialing. Suchdetermination would preferably be by reserving certain recognizedkeywords to be associated with camera functions (e.g., snap, shoot,etc). Alternatively, the cell phone may be explicitly placed into cameramode so that it is known ahead of time that recognized utterances arefor camera control.

Cell phones being so light and without much inertia are hard to steadyand the fact that the user must push a button on something so lightmakes it even harder to keep steady particularly given the small size ofthe shutter button on some cell phones. This aspect of the presentinvention would make picture taking on cell phones simpler and more foolproof.

Another aspect of the invention provides that the prior art voicerecognition unit of the cell phone be adapted to recognize at least someemail addresses when spoken. Another aspect of this inventive adaptationis to adapt the cell phone voice recognizer to identify the letters ofthe alphabet along with certain key words, for example, “space”,“underscore”, “question mark”, etc and numbers so that pictures may benamed when stored by spelling, for example. This aspect of the inventionis contemplated to serve the dual purpose of being usable for textmessaging or chat text input on the cell phone in addition to picturelabeling.

Additionally, other aspects of the present invention taught for theimproved camera system are applicable to the improved cell phone hereindisclosed particularly the aspect of the present invention associatingmultiple different utterances to a single command. The aspect of theinvention allowing for automatic connection to a LAN or the internet isalso contemplated for use with cell phone cameras. This aspect of theinvention ameliorates the prior art storage space limitation whichseverely hampers the utility of the cell phone camera. Cellular serviceproviders typically charge a fee for internet access or emailing and soan automatic feature to connect to the net or send email for thepurposes of transmitting pictures can improve revenue generation forthese companies.

The embodiments herein disclosed for the various aspects of the presentinvention are exemplary and are meant to illustrate the currentlypreferred embodiments of the various aspects of the invention. Thedisclosed embodiments are not meant to be exhaustive or to limitapplication of the various aspects of the invention to those embodimentsso disclosed. There are other embodiments of the various aspects of thepresent invention that are within the scope of the invention.Additionally, not all aspects of the invention need to be practicedtogether, it is contemplated that subsets of the disclosed aspects ofthe present invention may be practiced in an embodiment and still bewithin the scope of the present invention. For instance, an embodimentcombining a touch sensitive shutter button with a viewfinder usedetector so that focusing is only accomplished when both the shutterbutton is touched and viewfinder use is detected. Another embodimentcontemplated is to use the viewfinder use detector to automatically turnthe EVF on and the LCD display off when viewfinder use is detectedinstead of the prior art method of pressing a button which typicallytoggles which of the two is on and which is off. Still anothercontemplated embodiment applies the touch gesture recognition typicallyused with the computer-like touchpad technology to a touch sensitivedisplay, such as the touch sensitive LCD of the camera and other devicesherein disclosed that utilize an LCD display. Combining various aspectsof the invention herein disclosed, such as voice recognition, touchinput, gaze tracking, etc for camera control provides much more naturaland human interfacing to the camera system for the control of cameramenus, camera features, camera options, camera settings, commandingpicture taking, enabling flash, etc.

Another alternative embodiment for the disclosed aspects of the presentinvention is to use the disclosed touchpad with or without supportinginput gesture recognition with cellular phones, other cellular devices,Apple Computer Inc.'s Ipod MP3 player, etc., with the computer-liketouchpad replacing some or all of the buttons on devices. Touch inputwith or without touch-based gesture recognition would be an idealreplacement for Apple's Ipod click wheel interface. The touch pad wouldpreferably be made round (alternatively, it would be rectangular withthe housing of the device providing a round aperture to the touchpaddevice) and simply by skimming a finger over or touching the touchpad atthe appropriate places on the touch pad, the Ipod would be commanded toperform the proper function such as raising or lowering the volume, fastforwarding, slowing down replay, changing the selection, etc. This typeof round touchpad is also contemplated for use on cell phones tosimulate the old-fashioned rotary dial action or placement of digits.The user touches the pad at the appropriate place around thecircumference of the touch pad to select digits and enter them and thenmakes a dialing motion (stroking a thumb or finger around thecircumference of the touchpad) to begin the call or touches the centerof the pad to begin the call. Round pattern dialing is easily done withthe thumb when the phone is being single-handedly held. With referenceto FIG. 5 , in another embodiment, the touchpad, 94, is furthercontemplated to be fitted with a solid overlay having 2 or more cutoutsover its surface (the solid overlay with cutouts is preferably part ofthe cell phone or other device's housing and alternatively, the solidoverlay, 90, with cutouts, 92, is applied to the touchpad surfaceseparately) that only allows for certain areas of the touchpad toactually be touched to assist the user in assuring that only certainwell-defined areas of the touchpad are touched. This greatly reduces thesoftware detection requirements for the touchpad interface softwaresince now the software need only detect when a certain defined area istouched and assigns a specific function to that touched area and reportsthat to the device controller. That is, the cutout areas wouldessentially be soft keys but without there being a plurality ofdifferent keys, instead, simply different soft key locations on the sametouchpad but delineated physically so that certain other areas of thetouchpad simply cannot be touched. It is further contemplated that, inmany instances, the cutouts can be made large enough so thatfinger-stroke gestures can still be made and discerned. Because of thenature of modern mouse-like touchpad technology and how it works, thefirmness of a persons touch that actually registers as a touch can alsobe provided for by software and this feature is also contemplated foruse herein. Additionally, the touchpad, covered by a solid overlay withcutouts, would be recessed below the upper surface of the overlay (by asmuch as desired) helping to minimize false touches. This would be a muchcheaper input gathering structure and would replace some or all of themany buttons and joystick-like controller of the cell phone, Ipod,camera, etc. It is contemplated that a few generic touchpad shapes andsizes could be manufactured and serve a host of input functions,replacing literally tons of buttons and switches, since now the solidoverlay with cutouts on top of the touchpad defines the areas that canbe touched or gestured (see exemplary drawings of FIG. 5(b) and FIG.5(c)), and touchpad software, well understood in the art, defines whatmeaning is ascribed to these touched locations and gestures and whatdegree of firmness of touch is required to actually register the touch.Tapping and gesture (i.e., a finger stroke) recognition would furtherextend this new input-gathering device capability but is not required.This new input-gather device can be used to replace all or some of thebuttons or joystick-like controllers on cell phones, portable electronicdevices, cordless phones, mp3 players, PDAs, cameras, calculators, pointof sales terminals, computers, computer monitors, game controllers,radio, stereos, TV, DVD players, set-top boxes, remote controls,automobile interfaces, appliances, household switches light andappliance switches, etc. Additionally, use of an overlay with cutouts isnot absolutely necessary to practicing the above teachings. Similarfunctionality can be accomplished by simply embedding, embossing, orsurface applying area-delineating markings, preferably with labels, tothe touchpad itself and allowing software to accept only those touchesthat occur in these defined areas and to give the labeled meaning tothese areas when so touched. However, use of an overlay with cutouts iscurrently greatly preferred because of the tactile delineation of areasit provides.

Returning to the Ipod example, because of the large memory currentlyavailable with the Ipod, it is also contemplated that a digital camera,similar to cell phone's camera be embedded in the Ipod and coupled tothe Ipod controller and this inventive Ipod be operable for takingpictures and storing the pictures in the Ipod's memory. Anotheralternate embodiment for the disclosed aspects of the present inventionis to use the viewfinder use detector, gaze tracker, and/or thedisclosed internet connectability, herein described, in a video camera.As with the camera system disclosure, the viewfinder use detector can beused to enable or disable various aspects of the video camera system,such as turning the LCD display off when viewfinder use is detected.Gaze tracking is contemplated to be used to assist the video camerafocusing or used to guide and select menu items. Internet connectabilityis contemplated be used to download sound or image files for editing orfor uploading video recorded for editing or remote storage of the videoimages.

It is further contemplated that certain aspects of the presentlydisclosed invention have application beyond those disclosed herein. Forinstance, various voice recognition aspects of the present invention,such as use of a plurality of microphones or multiple different vocalutterances associated with the same command or delayed implementation ofa command which corresponds to a recognized vocalization, arecontemplated to have utility for many of the devices herein referencedand are anticipated to be incorporated therein. As an example,automatically connecting to the internet when a set of predeterminedrules or conditions (such as time, date, status of equipment, etc) ismet would be useful for the download/upload of information from/to theinternet, like music, video, etc. for processing, storage, transmissionto another party, etc. Those skilled in the art will undoubtedly seevarious combinations and alternative embodiments of the various aspectsof the present invention herein taught but which will still be withinthe spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A camera comprising a touchpad fitted with asolid overlay, the solid overlay having at least two cutouts on itssurface, such that (1) the at least two cutouts provide defined areasfor touch sensing on the touch pad and (2) each defined area for touchsensing corresponds to a defined camera function for a controller of thecamera.